virtues, to quote the words of Bishop King, "like jewels of unvaluable price, still cast such a lustre as envy and the rust of time shall never darken." We need not dwell on the peculiar graces of the wellknown narrative; nor is it necessary to advert to the circumstances under which it was written, except to remind the reader that the good old biographer had passed his seventieth year when he entered on this labour of love. his nephew's fortunes. At last, John Hooker (for so was the uncle named) determined to present the lad to Dr. John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, who, having been addressed on the subject, appointed a day to see him, and to ask him a few questions. When the time arrived for the interview, the bishop was so well satisfied with the boy's answers, that he obtained him a clerkship in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in which condition he remained till the eighteenth year of his age, at which period he was overtaken by a dangerous illness. During the latter half of the seventeenth century, the name of Hooker was regarded with no common veneration by the High Church and Cavalier party. "As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this In the scanty library of many a country gentleman sickness," says Walton, "he took a journey from was to be found his famous work on Ecclesiastical Oxford to Exeter, to satisfy and see his good mother, Polity, which, though perhaps rarely opened, was being accompanied with a countryman and companion regarded with reverence by its loyal possessor, from of his own college, and both on foot; which was then the recollection that his martyred sovereign had often either more in fashion, or want of money or their meditated over its pages, and had enjoined his children humility made it so. But on foot they went, and took to be diligent in its perusal. It was also remembered Salisbury in their way, purposely to see the good that in the earliest stage of Puritanism, Hooker had bishop, who made Mr. Hooker and his companion dine signalized himself as a zealous and able champion of with him at his own table, which Mr. Hooker boasted the Church,—that in her first struggle with the Non- of, with much joy and gratitude, when he saw his conformists he had proved himself a learned and mother and friends; and at the bishop's parting with successful, albeit, to his credit be it stated, a meek him, the bishop gave him good counsel and his beneand reluctant controversialist. He had defended the diction, but forgot to give him money; which when cause of the "passive and peaceful Protestants"the bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all against the "active Romanists and restless Noncon-haste to call Richard back to him; and at Richard's formists," when their forces were first directed against return, the bishop said to him, 'Richard, I sent for the Establishment in the reign of Elizabeth. The you back to lend you a horse which hath carried me works which he bequeathed to posterity abounded many a mile, and, I thank God, with much ease,' and in learning and logic. They had received the com- presently delivered him a walking-staff, with which he mendations of some of the most famous prelates of professed he had travelled through many parts of the Church, and when the war of theological con- Germany. And he said, 'Richard, I do not give, but tention ran high they were studied as text-books of lend you my horse. Be sure you be honest, and bring High-Church divinity. Among those, therefore, who my horse back to me at your return this way to made an enthusiastic attachment to the Church of Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats to bear England the principal article in their political, as well your charge to Exeter, and here is ten groats more as their religious creed, (and Izaak Walton was a which I charge you to deliver to your mother, and politician of this class,) there were few Englishmen tell her I send her a bishop's benediction with it, and who were considered more entitled to the grateful beg the continuance of her prayers for me.' reverence of posterity than the "learned and judicious Hooker." The county of Devon, amongst other worthies, has to boast of being the birth-place of this celebrated divine. He was born near Exeter, about the year 1533, of poor parents, who contrived, in spite of their poverty, to give their children the advantage of some slight education. Having been destined for a mechanical employment, Richard Hooker was saved from apprenticeship by the kindness of his schoolmaster, who, perceiving his quickness and docility, prevailed upon his parents to leave him at school till some means could be found of relieving them of a part of their care and charge. "And the good man told them also," says Walton, "that he would double his diligence in instructing him, and would neither expect nor receive any other reward than the content of so hopeful and happy an employment." It happened that Hooker had an uncle in more prosperous circumstances, being chamberlain of Exeter, whom the kindhearted schoolmaster frequently tried to interest in The death of the good bishop, which happened immediately after the young student had returned to Oxford, deprived him of a kind patron, and plunged him into deep affliction. But his modesty and ability soon gained him other friends, who were able and willing to assist him. It chanced about this time, that Dr. Edwin Sandys, then Bishop of London, who had shared the exile of Jewel during the persecuting reign of Mary, was about to send his son to Oxford, and though Hooker was only nineteen years of age, he had heard so much of his gravity and learning that he determined to select him for the youth's tutor. Shortly afterwards the bearer of another illustrious name was placed under his care, namely George Cranmer, the eldest son of Thomas Cranmer, the great archbishop's nephew. "Betwixt Mr. Hooker," says Walton, "and these his two pupils there was a sacred friendship,-a friendship made up of religious principles, which increased daily by a similitude of inclinations to the same recreations and studies; a friendship elemented in youth and in an university, free from self-ends, which the friendships of age because he meant none, did give her such a power as usually are not." Eleazar was trusted with, (you may read it in the To his other attainments Hooker added a profound | book of Genesis,) when he was sent to choose a wife knowledge of the oriental languages, and in 1579 he undertook the reading of the public Hebrew lecture, during the indisposition of the Hebrew reader. Three months afterwards, he was, for some trifling cause, expelled his college, but he returned to it again in the course of a few weeks, and resumed his studies, which he continued "in all quietness for the space of three years." There is little doubt but that these were the happiest years of his life; and amidst the domestic troubles in which he afterwards found himself involved through the guilelessness and simplicity of his nature, we can well imagine that he must have cast many a wistful backward glance on his quiet career at college, and the peaceful routine of his academic pursuits. At length, however, from a sense of duty rather than from his own inclination, Hooker entered into sacred orders, and in a very short time received an appointment to preach at Paul's Cross in London. Beside the stipend paid to the preacher upon these occasions, we are told by Walton, that provision was also made for his lodging and diet for two days before and one day after his sermon. The place set apart for his lodging, (called the Shunamite's house,) was kept at this time by a decayed draper, named John Churchman, who, though himself a good sort of man, had for his wife a most artful and designing woman. At this house, two days before the Sunday on which he had to preach, Hooker arrived, "so wet, so weary, and weatherbeaten," says his biographer, "that he was never known to express more passion, than against a friend who dissuaded him from footing it to London, and from finding him no easier a horse." Oppressed with fear and sickness, the good man altogether despaired of being able to preach his Sunday's sermon; but in this extremity he was so carefully nursed by Mrs. Churchman, that he miraculously recovered, and, to his great gratification | and surprise, was enabled to perform his allotted duty. His reputation for learning attracted many distinguished auditors; but strong objections were taken by some of those who favoured the theology of Calvin to the principal doctrinal point in his sermon. "But the justifying of this doctrine," says Walton, "did not prove of so bad consequence as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of his late distemper and cold; for that was so gratefully apprehended by Mr. Hooker, that he thought himself bound in conscience to believe all that she said: so that the good man came to be persuaded by her, that he was a man of a tender constitution; and that it was best for him to have a wife, that might prove a nurse to him; such an one as might both prolong his life, and make it more comfortable; and such an one she could and would provide for him, if he thought fit to marry.' And he not considering that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light;' but, like a truc Nathanael, fearing no guile, for Isaac; for, even so he trusted her to choose for Poor Hooker was, indeed, severely punished for his (as, indeed, I do daily,) to submit mine to his will, and Dr. Gauden, (an carlier biographer of Hooker,) and possess my soul in patience and peace." in contrasting him with his theological opponent, observes that, " Mr. Travers was a more plausible and profitable preacher to vulgar auditors, as well as more popular, having much more of the oratorian decoy, a pleasing voice, a pathetic pronunciation, and an insinuating fashion or gesture to captivate his auditors by his agreeable presence, vigorous speech, and graceful activity." On his return to London from this visit, it appears that Sandys, touched with compassion for his old tutor's situation, solicited his father, who had been promoted to the Archbishopric of York, to remove him to a benefice which would afford him a more comfortable subsistence. The archbishop was well disposed to assist the meek and patient divine, and an opportunity for doing it soon arrived. The master of the Temple, Mr. Alvey, was just dead, and being a learned and pious man, his loss was much lamented by the Society. A successor of equal virtue and ability was anxiously desired; and accordingly, being at dinner with the judges, and the reader and benchers of the society, soon after Alvey's death, the archbishop took occasion to mention the name of Hooker, and to utter an earnest commendation of his excellence. The prelate's powerful recommendation procured for Hooker the immediate offer of the important office; but though its advantages were pointed out to him, it was long before he could be prevailed on to accept it. At last his modest scruples were overcome, and on the 17th of March, 1585, being then, says Walton, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, he was, by patent for life, made Master of the Temple. When Hooker commenced his duties at the Temple Church, he found himself placed in a rather singular predicament. His predecessor, Alvey, had leaned to the Calvinistic doctrines, and upon his death-bed had earnestly recommended as his successor Mr. Walter Travers, a vehement supporter of the same opinions, who at that time filled the office of afternoon preacher. Travers was a learned and eloquent divine; and, under the circumstances, it may be well conceived that the appointment of Hooker was not very palatable to a large section of the gentlemen of the Temple. It was also soon evident that the doctrinal views of the new preacher differed widely from those to which the Temple congregations had been accustomed. On the subject of church discipline, and upon other important topics, the teaching of Hooker was the reverse of that of Travers or Alvey. His theological opinions, though moderately and meekly expressed, were by no means agreeable to those who had been accustomed to the highly seasoned divinity of Geneva. Accordingly, a strange state of circumstances was created by his appointment, which gave rise to some malicious comments. What was preached by Hooker was afterwards confuted, it was said, by Travers; and it became a common observation that "the forenoon sermons at the Temple spake Canterbury, and the afternoon Geneva." But, in the heat of controversy and fierce collision of opinion, it is worthy of remark, that the judicious and charitable Hooker was ever ready to bear his willing testimony to his opponent's piety and learning. His biographers also, however widely opposed to the tenets of Travers, have pursued the same honourable course. Izaak Walton says that he was a man of competent learning, of winning behaviour, and of a blameless life;" It may be observed that this period was regarded as a most critical one in the existence of the Church of England by all those who participated in Hooker's views of ecclesiastical discipline. She had not only to encounter the opposition of the Nonconformists, and the more subtle and formidable hostility of Rome, but within her own pale were many learned and pious men, who dissented from her practice and teaching in some important particulars. During the late era of persecution, when the more zealous Reformers were scattered over the continent, many of them imbibed at Antwerp or Geneva the peculiar theological views which then distinguished most of the foreign from the English partisans of the Refor mation. That portentous struggle was yet too recent, and the recollection of the sharp and bitter persecutions of the English Protestants too lively, to permit of separations or divisions, which, in the eyes of prudent and conscientious Reformers, might serve to weaken their ranks against the common enemy. In the Church itself, therefore, at this period, were to be found many divines, who sympathised with Calvin's notions of Church government, as well as with his theological system. With these men Hooker honestly and widely differed, but the peculiar circumstances of the period eminently required, as he well perceived, the exercise of great moderation and discretion. Though forced into the discussion of polemical questions, his controversial writings are altogether free from asperity, and were evidently findited in a conciliatory spirit. Whilst opposing, for instance, the Calvinistic system, in his beautiful Preface to the Ecclesiastical Polity, (addressed "to them that seek, as they term it, the reformation of the laws and orders ecclesiastical in the Church of England,") he does not omit to pay his tribute of respect to the character of the Genevese Reformer. "A founder it had," he says, "whom, for my own part I think incomparably the wisest man that ever the French Church did enjoy, since the hour it enjoyed him. His bringing up was in the study of the civil law. Divine knowledge he gathered, not by learning or reading so much, as by teaching others. For though thousands were debtors to him, as touching knowledge in that kind; yet he to none but only God, the author of that most blessed fountain, the Book of Life, and of the admirable dexterity of wit, together with the help of other learning, which were his guides." As a further sample of Hooker's tolerant spirit, as well as of his weighty and dignified style, the following passage, bearing fully upon the subject under our consideration, may be also appropriately quoted from the versity. Having regard therefore to the peace of the Establishment, he felt it his duty to prohibit him from preaching; and although Travers, backed by powerful friends, appealed to the Privy Council, he was not able to prevail against the influence of the archbishop. The dismissal of Travers did not, however, restore tranquillity to Hooker's congregation, and the good man continued to be sorely troubled by the "neglects and oppositions" which he encountered. To relieve his mind, and to provide himself with congenial em same preface. "Among ourselves," he says, "there | of Travers, and of his turbulent carriage at the uniwas in King Edward's days some question moved, by reason of a few men's scrupulosity touching certain things. And beyond seas, of them which fled in the days of Queen Mary, some contenting themselves abroad with the use of their own service-book at home authorised before their departure out of the realm, others liking better the Common Prayer Book of the Church of Geneva translated, those smaller contentions before begun were by these means somewhat increased. Under the happy reign of her majesty, which now is, the greatest matter a while contended for, was the wearing of the cap and sur-ployment, he resolved to compose a sober treatise on plice, till there came Admonitions directed unto the high court of parliament, by men, who concealing their names, thought it glory enough to discover their minds and affections, which now were universally bent even against all the orders and laws, wherein this Church is found unconformable to the platform of Geneva. Concerning the Defender of which Admonitions, all that I mean to say is but this: there will come a time when three words uttered with charity and meckness shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand volumes written with disdainful sharp. ness of wit." It cannot excite our surprise that in an intolerant age, the principles of intolerance should have been embraced by many Protestant communities. Both within and without the pale of the Establishment, there was in. Elizabeth's reign no lack of theologians, who, however distinguished for zeal and piety, were lamentably deficient in Christian charity. Many of the more popular Gospellers in England were distinguished for the same spirit which animated Kuox in Scotland and Calvin at Geneva. Some of them were positive in asserting that under no circumstances could a Papist be saved, "insomuch," says Walton, "that about this time, at the execution of the Queen of Scots, the bishop that preached her funeral sermon -which was Dr. Howland, then Bishop of Peterborough-was reviled for not being positive for her damnation." It was for maintaining more tolerant and charitable notions, on this and other points, that Hooker was forced into controversy. Exception was taken against him by Travers for having declared in one of his sermons, "that he doubted not but that God was merciful to many of our forefathers living in popish superstition, for as much as they sinned ignorantly." When such a sentiment, however, was selected for attack, Hooker was not backward in justifying the charitable assumption by an irresistible appeal to reason and the Scriptures; and few who have taken the trouble to peruse the summary of his argument will refuse to admit that in logic, if not in declamation, he had the advantage over Travers. The contest between Hooker and Travers excited at the time much attention, being conducted on both sides with great learning and moderation. At length, Archbishop Whitgift thought it prudent to interfere between the combatants. This prelate had already had some experience of the principles and character the discipline and authority of the Church; but he found the Temple no fit place for the composition of such a work, requiring, as it did, deep meditation and study. He sighed for the privileges of convenient leisure and undisturbed quietness of spirit, and earnestly longed to exchange the bickerings, jealousies, and heart-burnings of his metropolitan ministry for a quiet country parsonage. In this difficulty he applied to his friend Archbishop Whitgift, and freely stated his case to that great prelate. He told him that he was weary of the noise and oppositions of the Temple, and that God had not intended him for contentions, but for study and quietness. He referred to his contests with Travers, which were the more unpleasant to him because in his conscience he believed him to be a good man, and that belief had induced him to examine deeply into the grounds of his own views of Church discipline, and to consult every authority, human and divine, upon the subject. "And in this examination," he continued, "I have not only satisfied myself, but have begun a treatise in which I intend the satisfaction of others, by a demonstration of the reasonableness of our laws of ecclesiastical polity. But, my lord, I shall never be able to finish what I have begun, unless I be removed into some quiet parsonage, where I may see God's blessing spring out of my mother earth, and eat my own bread in peace and privacy; a place where I may, without disturbance, meditate my approaching mortality, and that great account which all flesh must give at the last day to the God of all spirits." We know of no passage of English prose more beautiful or affecting than the last sentence of this memorable epistle; and we may observe, by the way, that the clause we have marked with italics has been elegantly applied by the poet Mason to Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, in the following lines, which refer to the unobtrusive life of that excellent divine before his elevation to the mitre : |